Active labour market programmes in Norway: are they helpful for social assistance recipients?

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Abstract
This paper examines whether active labour market programmes (ALMPs) directed to the most disadvantaged in Norway are helpful in moving them from social assistance to self-sufficiency (i.e. work, earnings, and decent income). The study focuses on programme packages that integrate several components and are especially targeted at the disadvantaged unemployed. Nine such programme packages are evaluated. Thus, nine comparison groups are formed, one for each intervention group. Both groups are derived from the pool of the entire population of social assistance recipients registered in 1995. The study adopts a quasi-experimental design. To handle selection bias, a matching procedure based on a propensity-score approach is applied. The results indicate that most of the programme packages yield a positive and, in most cases, significant effect on subsequent employment and earnings, both in the short and in the long run, that is, up to five years later.

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